Dr. Aloys Wobben & Anr. v. Yogesh Mehra & Others
Whether the same person may challenge a patent by post-grant opposition, by a revocation petition and by a counter-claim all at once.
What the court held
The Court held that these routes are alternatives rather than additions. Once a person has pursued a post-grant opposition to its conclusion, the same person cannot then run a revocation petition on the same grounds. A person who files a revocation petition before an infringement suit begins cannot later seek revocation by counter-claim in that suit, and a person who files a counter-claim cannot afterwards start a separate revocation petition. The word or in the revocation provision was read as offering a choice.
Why it matters to a reader of this provision
Anyone reading the opposition provision or the revocation provision needs to know that the choice of route is largely one way. The judgment sets out which challenge may follow which, and when the door closes. It shapes how opponents and defendants plan a challenge, and explains why a defendant sued for infringement usually raises validity by counter-claim rather than through a separate petition.
Provisions this judgment interprets
Open a provision for the plain-language explanation, the worked example and the forms and deadlines it touches.
Does this judgment affect your matter?
Whether a decision helps or hurts depends entirely on your facts and your claims. A patent professional can tell you which.